Fine-needle aspiration cytology

Abstract

In 1930, Martin (1) advocated the use of fine-needle aspiration of head and neck lesions for diagnostic purposes. The method was largely abandoned until the fifties (2) and it became popular during the sixties, especially in Sweden (3, 4). Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is now practiced in many large centers. In some facilities, however, clinicians and/or cytopathologists are reluctant to use it. This is partly because they fear tumor implantation through FNA and partly because they feel the findings are unlikely to influence the surgical intervention plans. In reality, tumor implantation due to FNA is very rare if needles are indeed fine — about 23 gauge. According to the literature and in our experience, tumor implantation does not occur when thin needles are used. Nor does FNA increase the risk of hematogenic metastasis (5).